Yahoo Bought A Company That Lets You Talk To Computers As If They Were Humans

Yahoojust announcedthat it’s adding a company called SkyPhrase to its healthy roster of recent acquisitions.

SkyPhrase, a natural language technology startup founded by Rensselaer professor Nick Cassimatis and two of his students, is trying to help people communicate with technology using the same language that they use in normal, every day situations.

SkyPhrase runs intelligent searches within Gmail and Twitter (for example, allowing you to search not only for “tweets from jillianiles” but something like “tweets from jillianiles with pictures”) and was extending its capabilities to product and flight searches last year, according to a Forbes piece about the company.

Neither company revealed the terms of the deal, but SkyPhrase, which converted its website into a press release, made the following statement:

In Yahoo, we have found a company that not only shares our vision, but delivers a rich collection of information and services to a massive user base. We are excited to join Yahoo Labs to continue to work on our shared vision of making computers deeply understand people’s natural language and intentions.

NOW WATCH: Tech Insider videos

Want to read a more in-depth view on the trends influencing Australian business and the global economy? BI / Research is designed to help executives and industry leaders understand the major challenges and opportunities for industry, technology, strategy and the economy in the future. Sign up for free at research.businessinsider.com.au.